Avoiding Spam, Scams and Computer Viruses

One of the most popular pages on about-the-web.com is about avoiding scams, hoaxes and urban legends on the Internet (http://about-the-web.com/shtml/scams.shtml). Here are a few ways to avoid some of the perils associated with being connected to the rest of the world.

As a general rule of thumb, beware of any offer that sounds too good to be true. This applies to products being offered on the Internet and especially to any unsolicited offer or spam you receive in your email. Many of these are scams.

The term "spam", in case you don't know, refers to any unsolicited bulk email. If it's not addressed to you, or you don't recognize the sender, or you're being asked to buy something or pass along questionable information, then that's spam. My advise is to "can the spam" by immediately deleting any email you receive from anyone you don't know.

The best way to avoid spam, is to be very careful about who you give your email address to. My advise here is to set up a free email account and to give this email address to anyone you don't absolutely trust with your personal information. It almost never does any good to fight back against spam. Your best course of action is just to delete any unwanted email.

A trick that has been pretty successful for me is to set up an email rule (or filter) that automatically sends any mail not addressed to me to a special folder. Most of this is spam and can be easily disposed of.

In addition to spams and scams, the other thing to watch out for on the Internet is hoaxes, urban legends and false information. There are many of these floating around the Internet these days. Beware of any email that asks you to send money for any cause, or to forward the email to all your friends.

Almost all of these are hoaxes. An excellent resource for information on hoaxes, urban legends and false information is http://urbanlegends.about.com/index.htm

Another category of hoaxes involves virus warnings. If you receive information that indicates you can get a computer virus from doing anything except opening an email
attachment or running an application, then this is probably false information.

Most computer viruses are spread by users opening email attachments that contain the virus. NEVER OPEN AN EMAIL ATTACHMENT THAT YOU ARE NOT EXPECTING. Even if you know the sender, make sure the attachment is legitimate before opening it. It is much safer to delete any questionable attachments and ask the sender to resend them than to assume that the sender intended to send that email.

Your best defenses against computer viruses are:

1) caution in downloading programs from questionable sources,

2) regularly scanning your drive with virus protection software, and 3) backing up all your important data to a different drive or media (floppy, Zip or CD-ROM) as soon as possible. By doing all of these, if your system does get infected, you can restore it with a minimum of hassle.

Always check out any offer or information you receive before sending any money or forwarding the information to someone else. That way you can rest easy knowing you
aren't getting scammed or passing along an urban legend.


About the Author

Garth Catterall-Heart
About-the-web.com is an Internet Guide for new users to the Internet. Learn about browsers, e-mail programs, search engines, making money, avoiding scams, creating and
promoting web sites, and some simple tips for a better web surfing experience at http://www.about-the-web.com

Antivirus Software – Get The Bugs Before They Get You!

You turn on your computer, and it doesn’t look quite right. Maybe your icons have changed, or the background picture is wrong. Some options are disabled. Even worse, you may not be able to boot your computer up at all. Guess what – it’s probably got a virus.

In today’s online world, protecting your computer from all the nasty things online is vital. Viruses can cause obvious issues, as described above, but they can also run silently in the background, propagating themselves across your computer and transferring on to the computers of people you know. Mostly, you only know you have a virus when substantial damage has already been done.

Some common signs of a virus include:

-Programs working erratically

-Computer locks up

-Greyed out options

-The browser home page has changed

-Icons have changed

-Difficulties starting up the computer

There is a solution! Antivirus software is readily available, and the good ones are very efficient at dealing with viruses in all their many and varied mutations. Basically, if you’re online, you need this type of software.

So which one do you choose? For starters, be careful of using something free off the internet, particularly if it’s one you’ve never heard of. Sometimes these programs are a way of implanting more viruses on your computer. Some of the better known brands give you the option of doing a free scan online, which is useful, but not a long term solution.

It’s really important to choose well-known antivirus software. Ask friends, or someone computer savvy, for their recommendations. It may be worth visiting a computer store and buying it there, rather than online – after all, if they’ve gone to the trouble of stocking it, it’s most likely an established and trusted product.

There are plenty of good brands available, far too numerous to list here, but some of the best known are from McAfee, Norton and Trend. Check out the support available to you – can you contact someone if you have trouble installing the software?

Most importantly, make sure there’s an easy way to update the software on a regular basis (preferably as part of the purchase cost!). For example, my antivirus software pops up a little box every time an upgrade is available. I click okay, and it’s automatically downloaded to my computer. Viruses change and develop at an alarming rate, so it’s vital to keep your antivirus software up to date.

Finally, the all-important backup! The word “backup” tends to produce the same glassy eyed response as the word “budget”, but it really is an essential part of being online. Regularly backup your important files to CD or DVD. If you’re a business user, an automated and frequent backup process is vital. Once a virus has destroyed your computer, it’s too late.

Being online is wonderful, but don’t let it become a nightmare. Antivirus software will play a vital role in keeping your online experience a positive one.

Copyright Felicity Walker

About the Author

Keeping her computer running smoothly is a priority for the author! To find out more, check out http://www.antiviruszoneonline.com for more information.

AntiVirus Warning

It is a sad day when the antivirus software messes up your computer more than the @#$& virus you got in yesterday's email. The more complex antivirus software gets, the more it becomes like a virus itself. In honor of my recent discovery of a new problem with my antivirus program, here are a few pitfalls of popular (and
not so popular) programs:

1. "Norton Crash Guard crashes my computer."

This is the first problem I noticed with Symantec's popular suite of computer protective software. Norton Crash Guard immediately forced
my brother's new Compaq computer even with errors that would normally just shut down the program involved. (That was just the worse case.)

On other computers, loading Crash Guard slowed down the computer so much I felt compelled to take it off.

2. "Norton AntiVirus is keeping me from accessing the internet."

When I first installed Norton AntiVirus, I had to call our internet service provider AND Eudora in order to access email again. It turns out the program tries to route all email through their server to check for viruses. You have to go into your preferences and reset them in a way that will work with your internet service provider.

I'm not the only one, either! I recently received a message from a direct mail guru who said he was offline for almost 12 hours because he loaded Norton AntiVirus to delete a virus he inadvertently picked up from an email message.

3. "Norton Systemworks is slowing down my computer."

My Dad recently took a computer in because it was having some problems. The technician told him they recommended everyone uninstall the Norton Systemworks computer monitor (the little window that tells you how much your drive is
fragmented, how much of your CPU you're using, etc.).

They claim the little box does nothing Windows doesn't already and slows your computer down 10%! (I believe them. I remember how much faster the computers were before we loaded it, and my computer at home has been fine without it.)

4. "Internet Explorer (IE) won't work!"

This was my big problem for over a year. It started (coincidentally) about the same time I loaded Netscape 4.7. I've heard of other people having problems with Netscape and IE on the same computer, so I assumed Netscape was the problem.

I tried installing Netscape and re-installing it. I tried uninstalling IE and re-installing it. Nothing worked.

Sunday night, my antivirus program (Aladdin's E- Safe Desktop) gave me an error when IE accidentally popped up. I unloaded the program, and IE started to work! I don't know why I didn't think of it before. I uninstalled the program and now IE works fine.

IE has ActiveX, a language that has been found capable of delivering viruses, and Microsoft is constantly using it to send update information to users. My virus protection software shut down the program for my computer's own good!

5. "What about McAfee?"

Well, maybe McAfee is better. It's been working okay on my computer for about a week now. However, I've heard horror stories about them from some of my subscribers as well! In the past, I've had problems with updates.

"There's always hope!"

I polled my subscribers about the best antivirus solutions, and Trend Software's PC-Cillan won. You can download their software (priced competitively with Norton's AntiVirus and McAfee's Virus Shield at http://www.trend.com/

One subscriber also recommended a free solution: AVG anti-virus from
http://www.grisoft.com

Good luck!

About the Author

Dawn Gray writes Busy Marketing Tips! Subscribe
today by emailing

subscribe@busymarketing.com and get free
Search Engine Tips.

An Easy way to Deal with Email Viruses and Worms

If you feel intimidated when someone tries to teach you something new on the computer, this article is for you!

In the course of my career, I’ve worked with many people who I knew were smart but were convinced that they couldn’t learn how to do new things on a computer. At some point, they’d convinced themselves that they weren’t one of those “computer people”. I would try to teach them how to do something that would make their work a lot easier or faster, and I could see them shut down immediately. “I can’t do stuff like that. I’m just not good at it.”

In a few cases, my colleagues were simply amazed that I knew how to do things like upload photos to the Internet or how to start a new folder in Windows. Some would tell me that I must have some special gift for technology. I would just laugh and tell them that nothing could be further from the truth! I have a degree in psychology. I’m not a math and science type of person, and if it weren’t for the patience of my tech-minded husband and friends, I never would have learned how to do these things.

The fact is, computers are such a part of our lives, that you can’t afford to think of yourself as not a “computer person”. The reason I think that a lot of people are intimidated when learning about computers is that so much of the instructions and directions are full of jargon and assume that people have as much technological knowledge as people who work with computers for a living.

I’m convinced that if I can do it, anyone else can do it too. All it takes is an open mind, confidence, and someone to explain things to you step by step in plain English.

---------------------

Aside from using anti-virus software, there is another way to keep some email viruses or worms from driving you crazy and clogging up your inbox. While the "Sobig" virus seems to have died down, there are sure to be some like it in the future. If you would like to prevent these bogus Emails from reaching your inbox, you can set up rules in Outlook or Outlook Express to send them directly to the delete folder.

Although the Sobig virus seems to be under control, it might be good practice to do this now. That way when the next big virus comes around, you'll be able to filter it out right away. It might seem like its difficult, but I know that anyone can do this. If you're smart enough to do your taxes and balance your checkbook, you can do this, trust me.

If you're using Outlook Express, go to Tools, then select "message rules" and then "mail". A box will pop up with buttons on the right side of the window. Hit the "new" button. Another box pops up with three windows. In the first box, click the box next to "Where the subject line contains specific words".

In the second box, click "delete it". Now in the third box it should say, "Apply this rule after the message arrives/Where the Subject line contains specific words/Delete it." Click on the words "contains specific words".

This is where you tell the program what words to look for in the subject line. It’s very important to remember that this is case sensitive, meaning that if you put "abc" in, it will only delete emails with "abc" in the subject, and not "ABC" or "Abc". For the Sobig virus, there were seven subject lines that were commonly used. If you would like to read more about this, go to http://www.webpro.com/iq/SobigF.asp The subject lines are:

* That movie

* Wicked screensaver

* Your application

* Approved

* My details

* Details

* Your details

* Thank you


It’s a good idea to copy and paste the phrases above to make sure the capitalization is exactly the same. (copy=control C, Paste=Control V)

Enter the first phrase into the box and then click on the "add" button to the right. That phrase will appear in the box below. You can add as many phrases as you'd like, clicking "add" after each one. When you're done, hit "ok" Then hit "ok" again.

At this point, we are back to one box open with buttons on the right. Be sure to click the "apply now" button if you want the rule to apply to the email that is already in your inbox as well as any future emails.

When you are done with that, click the "ok" button and you're finished.

If you use Outlook, the process is a little different.

First go to Tools, and then choose "Rules Wizard". Click on the "new" button on the right. It should say at the top of a new box "What type of rule would you like to create?" There will be a list of types of rules: you want to choose "Check messages when they arrive", which is at the top so it should already be highlighted. Simply click on "next".

The next box asks you "which conditions do you want to check?" with a list of choices, each with an empty box next to it. Scroll down until you get to "with specific words in the subject", and click the box in front of it.

Once you click it, you'll notice that "with specific words in the subject" appears in the box below. Click on the "specific words" in the lower box here to specify which words the program should look for.

This is where you tell the program what words to look for in the subject line. It’s very important to remember that this is case sensitive, meaning that if you put "abc" in, it will only delete emails with "abc" in the subject, and not "ABC" or "Abc".

For the Sobig virus, there were seven subject lines that were commonly used. If you would like to read more about this, go to http://www.webpro.com/iq/SobigF.asp The subject lines are:


* That movie

* Wicked screensaver

* Your application

* Approved

* My details

* Details

* Your details

* Thank you


A new box will pop up that says, "search text" at the top. Enter one of the phrases you want to filter out and click "add". You may enter as many phrases as you'd like, clicking "add" after each one. When you're finished, click "Ok". You'll be taken back to the previous box. Click "next" at the bottom.

At this point, you have two choices. You can either specify that these emails go into your delete file to be reviewed later, or you can specify that they be permanently deleted from Outlook so that you never see them. At this point, either click in the box next to "delete it", which simply moves it automatically to the delete folder, or click "permanently delete", which means that you will never see the email at all and won't be able to get it back.

Click "next" again and you're now at the exceptions box. I can see no reason to use the exceptions when dealing with the Sobig viruses and others like it. There might be a temptation to make an exception for people who are in your address book or close friends. But remember, a virus will take over someone else's address book and send you emails without the person ever knowing. Anyone in your address book could send you an infected email without knowing it. I recommend that you hit “next” without selecting any exceptions at this point.

In the next box, the program would like to know the name of the rule you've just created. You might want to call it "viruses #1" or something similar. Click finish after naming your rule. At this point you have another choice: you can apply the rule you just created to the mail already in your inbox, or you can choose to have it apply only to the incoming mail from now on. Choose either "run now" or "ok".

You're finished. That wasn't SO hard, was it? You might even want to set up some more rules to help you organize your inbox or to filter out spam or unwanted email.

-------------------

Some more information about attachments and viruses/worms:

Email viruses and worms almost always are transmitted through attachments. Remember after the Anthrax scare in the US a couple of years ago when everyone was very picky about what mail they accepted and opened? Anything that looked suspicious or didn't have a return address wasn't opened.

Think about attachments in the same way. If you get email from someone you don't know, don't open the attachment! If the email doesn't say anything personal to you or use your real name, don't open the attachment. You can always send an email back to that person asking them about who they are or what the attachment is for if you're in doubt.

What you need to know about the difference between spam and viruses:

Recently online I've seen a couple of people referring to the emails they get from viruses as spam. If you want to impress your friends and coworkers with your technological savvy, you need to know that spam is unwanted and unsolicited email you get for a commercial purpose. The intention of the email is commercial. Someone wants you to buy something, be a part of their program or visit their website.

Email you get because of viruses is technically not spam. Although it is unwanted, its intention is not to advertise or market anything, it’s simply a nuisance created by someone with too much time on his or her hands!

Also keep in mind that viruses commonly get into people's address books and send out automatic emails to everyone on the list. Your friends and relatives are not sending you infected email on purpose.

Heather Dickson is the owner of Virtuassist.net, a virtual assistant practice. She is a member of the International Virtual Assistants Association and a Certified Real Estate Support Specialist. Heather lives in Missouri with her husband and four cats.


heather@virtuassist.net

All About Computer Viruses

Your computer is as slow as molasses. Your mouse freezes every 15 minutes, and that Microsoft Word program just won’t seem to open.

You might have a virus.

Just what exactly is a virus? What kind is in your computer? How did it get there? How is it spreading and wreaking such havoc? And why is it bothering with your computer anyway?

Viruses are pieces of programming code that make copies of themselves, or replicate, inside your computer without asking your explicit written permission to do so. Forget getting your permission down on paper. Viruses don’t bother to seek your permission at all! Very invasive.

In comparison, there are pieces of code that might replicate inside your computer, say something your IT guy thinks you need. But the code spreads, perhaps throughout your office network, with your consent (or at least your IT guy’s consent). These types of replicating code are called agents, said Jimmy Kuo, a research fellow with McAfee AVERT, a research arm of anti-virus software-maker McAfee Inc.

In this article, though, we’re not talking about the good guys, or the agents. We’ll be talking about the bad guys, the viruses.

A long, long time ago in computer years, like five, most viruses were comprised of a similar breed. They entered your computer perhaps through an email attachment or a floppy disk (remember those?). Then they attached themselves to one of your files, say your Microsoft Word program.

When you opened your Microsoft Word program, the virus replicated and attached itself to other files. These could be other random files on your hard drive, the files furthest away from your Microsoft Word program, or other files, depending on how the virus writer wanted the virus to behave.

This virus code could contain hundreds or thousands of instructions. When it replicates it inserts those instructions, into the files it infects, said Carey Nachenberg, Chief Architect at Symantec Research Labs, an arm of anti-virus software-maker Symantec. Corp.

Because so many other types of viruses exist now, the kind just described is called a classic virus. Classic viruses still exist but they’re not quite as prevalent as they used to be. (Perhaps we could put classic viruses on the shelf with Hemingway and Dickens.)

These days, in the modern era, viruses are known to spread through vulnerabilities in web browsers, files shared over the internet, emails themselves, and computer networks.

As far as web browsers are concerned, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer takes most of the heat for spreading viruses because it’s used by more people for web surfing than any other browser.

Nevertheless, “Any web browser potentially has vulnerabilities,” Nachenberg said.

For instance, let’s say you go to a website in IE you have every reason to think is safe, Nachenberg said.

But unfortunately it isn’t. It has virus code hidden in its background that IE isn’t protecting you from. While you’re looking at the site, the virus is downloaded onto your computer, he said. That’s one way of catching a nasty virus.

During the past two years, another prevalent way to catch a virus has been through downloads computer users share with one another, mostly on music sharing sites, Kuo said. On Limewire or Kazaa, for instance, teenagers or other music enthusiasts might think they’re downloading that latest Justin Timberlake song, when in reality they’re downloading a virus straight into their computer. It’s easy for a virus writer to put a download with a virus on one of these sites because everyone’s sharing with everyone else anyway.

Here’s one you might not have thought of. If you use Outlook or Outlook Express to send and receive email, do you have a preview pane below your list of emails that shows the contents of the email you have highlighted? If so, you may be putting yourself at risk.

Some viruses, though a small percentage according to Nachenberg, are inserted straight into emails themselves.

Forget opening the attachment. All you have to do is view the email to potentially get a virus, Kuo added. For instance, have you ever opened or viewed an email that states it’s “loading”? Well, once everything is “loaded,” a virus in the email might just load onto your computer.

So if I were you, I’d click on View on the toolbar in your Outlook or Outlook Express and close the preview pane. (You have to click on View and then Layout in Outlook Express.)

On a network at work? You could get a virus that way. Worms are viruses that come into your computer via networks, Kuo said. They travel from machine to machine and, unlike, the classic viruses, they attack the machine itself rather than individual files.

Worms sit in your working memory, or RAM, Nachenberg said.

OK, so we’ve talked about how the viruses get into a computer. How do they cause so much damage once they’re there?

Let’s say you’ve caught a classic virus, one that replicates and attacks various files on your computer. Let’s go back to the example of the virus that initially infects your Microsoft Word program.

Well, it might eventually cause that program to crash, Nachenberg said. It also might cause damage to your computer as it looks for new targets to infect.

This process of infecting targets and looking for new ones could eventually use up your computer’s ability to function, he said.

Often the destruction a virus causes is pegged to a certain event or date and time, called a trigger. For instance, a virus could be programmed to lay dormant until January 28. When that date rolls around, though, it may be programmed to do something as innocuous but annoying as splash popups on your screen, or something as severe as reformat your computer’s hard drive, Nachenberg said.

There are other potential reasons, though, for a virus to cause your computer to be acting slow or in weird ways. And that leads us to a new segment – the reason virus writers would want to waste their time creating viruses in the first place.

The majority of viruses are still written by teenagers looking for some notoriety, Nachenberg said. But a growing segment of the virus-writing population has other intentions in mind.

For these other intentions, we first need to explain the “backdoor” concept.

The sole purpose of some viruses is to create a vulnerability in your computer. Once it creates this hole of sorts, or backdoor, it signals home to mama or dada virus writer (kind of like in E.T.). Once the virus writer receives the signal, they can use and abuse your computer to their own likings.

Trojans are sometimes used to open backdoors. In fact that is usually their sole purpose, Kuo said.

Trojans are pieces of code you might download onto your computer, say, from a newsgroup. As in the Trojan War they are named after, they are usually disguised as innocuous pieces of code. But Trojans aren’t considered viruses because they don’t replicate.

Now back to the real viruses. Let’s say we have Joe Shmo virus writer. He sends out a virus that ends up infecting a thousand machines. But he doesn’t want the feds on his case. So he instructs the viruses on the various machines to send their signals, not of course to his computer, but to a place that can’t be traced. Hotmail email happens to be an example of one such place, Kuo said.

OK, so the virus writers now control these computers. What will they use them for?

One use is to send spam. Once that backdoor is open, they bounce spam off of those computers and send it to other machines, Nachenberg said.

That’s right. Some spam you have in your email right now may have been originally sent to other innocent computers before it came to yours so that it could remain in disguise. If the authorities could track down the original senders of spam, they could crack down on spam itself. Spam senders don’t want that.

Ever heard of phishing emails? Those are the ones that purport to be from your internet service provider or bank. They typically request some information from you, like your credit card number. The problem is, they’re NOT from your internet service provider or your bank. They’re from evil people after your credit card number! Well, these emails are often sent the same way spam is sent, by sending them via innocent computers.

Of course makers of anti-virus software use a variety of methods to combat the onslaught of viruses. Norton, for instance, uses signature scanning, Nachenberg said.

Signature scanning is similar to the process of looking for DNA fingerprints, he said. Norton examines programming code to find what viruses are made of. It adds those bad instructions it finds to its large database of other bad code. Then it uses this vast database to seek out and match the code in it with similar code in your computer. When it finds such virus code, it lets you know!

©2004 by Kara Glover

Feel Free to reprint this article in newsletters and on websites, with resource box included. If you use this article, please send a brief message to let me know where it appeared: kara333@earthlink.net

Kara Glover is a Computer Tutor and Troubleshooter. You can find her articles and tutorials on topics such as Microsoft Word®, Excel®, and PowerPoint® on her website: http://www.karathecomputertutor.com

kara333@earthlink.net

Troubleshooting Motherboard

Troubleshooting Motherboard
Kalau prosesor dianggap sebagai “otak” komputer, maka motherboard boleh dianggap merupakan “jantung” kehidupan di PC. Sebagai komponen yang menyandang “beban berat” kerusakan sedikit saja bisa membikin PC tersengal-sengal.
Pada komputer generasi awal, komponen seperti prosesor dan Ram langsung dilekatkan pada motherboard tanpa bisa diganti-ganti atau ditambah lagi. Model semcam ini dinamakan backplane. Desain baru yang bersifat modular memungkinkan penggantian beberapa komponen yang melekat pada motherboard secara mudah, sekaligus memberikan keleluasaan tersedianya peluang-peluang peningkatan teknologi PC itu sendiri.
Namun, kemudahan senantiasa mengandeng resiko. Begitu pula dengan motherboard. Sejak motherboard dijadikan “sasaran tembak” utama untuk menghasilkan PC yang optimal, kita dihadapkan pada keruwetan-keruwetan yang semakin besar. Mari tunjuk beberapa contoh. Peningkatan kebutuhan prosesor yang bertenaga membuat desain motherboard harus mengikuti tuntutan perkembangan prosesor. Kebutuhan akan transfer data yang lebih cepat membutuhkan desain motherboard terus berubah. Perkembangan-perkembangn terbaru seperti teknologi Fire Ware, USB 2.0, RAID System, Smart Card, Secure Digital, wireless, semuanya berkumpul pada lahan yang sama : motherboard.
Meski untuk saat ini belum semua teknologi tersebut populer, namun untuk memberi daya tarik suatu produk motherboard para produsen pun tak kurang akal. Mereka beramai-ramai menyediakan ruang upgrade itu, tanpa harus menyertakannya ketika ia diproduksi secara massal, untuk tetap membuatnya tetap ekonomis.
Beragamnya tipe chipset pada motherboard yang menjadi tolak ukur dukungan teknis juga kian membuat para pengguna dipusingkan untuk memilih mana yang terbaik. Belum lagi selesai dengan masalah yang satu ini, kita juga dihadapkan dengan berbagai kekhawatiran, bagaimana mengatasi persoalan bilaman terjadi motherboard sebagai jantung PC, masalah sedikit saja bisa membuat PC termehek-mehek.
Justru dengan banyaknya pilihan tersebut, kunci pertama supaya kita tetap tidak tersesat delam belantara adalah memahami seni arsitektur mother board, dan membekali diri dengan kemampuan praktis yang mumpuni. Berikut ini langkah-langkahnya.
Repair or Replace
Keputusan untuk mereparasi sangat ditentukan oleh tingkat kerusakan yang terjadi pada sebuah motherboard. Sementara, langkah penggantian sangat tergantung oleh tingkat daya dukung teknologi motherboard ataupun kemampuan ekonomi Anda dalam membelanjakan barang-barang komputer. Masalahnya adalah bagaimana seandainya motherboard itu masih terhitung baru, sementara kita tidak mampu mendeteksi kerusakan atau menentukan jalan keluarnya ? ikuti dulu langkah kedua sebelum memutuskan untuk membeli yang baru.
Back to Basics !
• Periksa semua konektor. Tentu saja, langkah ini diperlukan untuk memastikan bahwa tidak ada satu konektor pun yang terlepas atau tidak tertancap dengan benar.
• Periksa semua komponen yang melekat. Ini penting untuk memdeteksi, apakah pemasangan prosesor, RAM, VGA Card sudah benar atau belum. Juga untuk memastikan bahwa secara fisik IC-IC di dalam motherboard tidak mengalami kerusakan atau terlepas.
• Periksa sumber listrik yang masuk melalui power suplay. Untuk memastikannya, periksa dulu suplai listrik dari jala listrik, lalu periksalah output listrik pada kabel-kabel power suplay dengan menggunakan multimeter. Pastikan bahwa output tiap kabel sudah sesuai dengan yang direkomendasikan pada buku manual.
• Periksa, adakah barang-barang asing yang menggangu jalur motherboard. Kabel, sekrup, kotoran, juga debu bisa mempengaruhi nafas kehidupan motherboard. Gangguan semacam ini, selain membuat lalu lintas data terganggu, bila posisinya strategis bisa menimbulkan hubungan pendek alias konslet.
• Periksa jumper-jumper, DIP switch, atau pin-pin pengatur setiap fitur dengan teliti dan benar. Pastikan bahwa Anda mengacu pada buku manual jangan menggunakan ilmu hafalan. Setting yang salah bisa membuat motherboard Anda tak mau hidup.
• Periksa bagian-bagian motherboard yang melekat pada casing. Hubungan pendek akibat penguncian tanpa isolator antara casing, sekrup pengunci dengan motherboard akan membuat listrik terhenti setiap kali tombol power ditekan.

Sistem PC tidak menyala ketika kartu grafis onboard diganti dengan VGA Card
Masalah semacam ini sering terjadi ketika pengguna hendak melakukan upgrade kartu grafis pada motherboard yang memiliki VGA add on yang terpasang. Namum, pada sebagian motherboard, Anda harus melakukan pergantian setting secara manual. Sebenarnya ini tidak akan terjadi kalau Anda tahu tips dan triknya. Biasanya masalah akan terjadi ketika kartu grafis add on ditancapkan dan Anda melakukan booting untuk pertama kalinya. Sistem kemudian tidak menyala sama sekali. Bahkan tidak mengeluarkan bunyi beep sama sekali.
Langkah pertama yang harus dilakukan adalah menggunakan kembali VGA onboard Anda. Ketika Sudah masuk sistem Windows, lakukan uninstall driver VGA onboard yang Anda pakai. Setelah itu, lakukan restart kembali sistem Anda untuk kemudian masuk pada menu BIOS. Pada menu ini, Anda harus mematikan atau mend-disable fitur VGA onboard. Setelah mematikan fungsi ini keluarlah dari BIOS dan matikan sistem.
Langkah selanjutnya adalah pasang kartu grafis add on Anda pada slot AGP atau slot PCI sesuai dengan tipe kartu grafis yang hendak Anda pakai. Setelah tertancap dengan benar pada slot yang sesuai, nyalakan kembali sistem Anda. Sistem akan kembali menyala dengan kartu grafis add on sebagai kartu grafis utama. Jangan lupa untuk menginstall driver terbaru yang sesuai dengan kartu grafis tersebut.

Sistem tidak bekerja ketika prosesor diganti
Kejadian ini amat sering terjadi ketika Anda hendak melakukan upgrade atau downgrade dengan menggunakan prosesor yang memiliki front side bus yang berbeda. Misalnya ketika Pentium Anda ber-FSB 533 MHz Anda ganti dengan yang ber-FSB 400 MHz, sementara BIOS Anda masih men-setting sistem bekerja pada FSB 533 MHZ.
Agar sistem mau bekerja kembali, ada dua cara yang bisa ditempuh. Cara pertama adalah masuk ke sistem BIOS dan menganti FSB yang dipakai dari 133 MHZ manjadi 100 MHz. Ini dengan catatan kalau sistem motherboard dan prosesor Anda masih bisa mentolerir penggunaan FSB yang jauh lebih tinggi dibanding yang dipakai.
Cara lain adalah melakukan clear CMOS. Apabila langkah ini sudah dilakukan. Masuklah ke menu BIOS Anda dan pastikan FSB yang dipakai sudah sesuai dengan FSB yang bekerja pada prosesor Anda. Langkah ini dijamin manjur untuk mengatasi masalah yang semacam ini.

Sistem tidak bekerja ketika modul memori DDR diganti
Ada beberapa kemungkinan maslah yang mungkin jadi penyebab mangapa masalah semacam ini terjadi. Pertama adalah kompatibilitas motherboard yang dipakai terhadap memori baru yang dipasang. Penyebabnya ada dua, yaitu masalah chip memori yang digunakan atau maslah tipe memori yang dipakai. Beberapa motherboard mensyaratkan secar tegas jenis chip yangh dipakai. Apabila tidak sesuai, motherboard tidak akan mendeteksi adanya memori yang berakibat pada tidak bekerjanya sistem. Sementara beberapa motherboard juga tidak mau dipsangi memori tipe single side atau double side. Sekali lagi ini masalah kompatibilitas motherboard terhadap memori yang dipasang. Apabila masalahnya adalah chip memori, update BIOS terkadang bisa jadi salah satu pemecahan jitu.
Kemungkinan kedua adalah tipe memori yang dipasang memiliki CAS latency yang lebih rendah ketimbang CAS latency memori sebelumnya, sementara pada BIOS latency masih di-setting pada CAS-2. cara satu-satunya adalah dengan melakukan reset atau clear BIOS. Setelah itu masuklah pada menu BIOS yang mengatur latency yang bekerja pada memori dan ubah sesuai dengan kemampuan memorinya. Yang paling aman adalah dengan mengubah latency yang bekerja pada CL-2,5.

Sistem tidak bekerja meski semua power sudah terpasang
Bisa jadi masalah ini muncul lantaran beberapa penyebab. Pertama periksa apakah ada aliran listrik yang masuk pada motherboard. Ini penting untuk memastikan adakah aliran listrik yang mengalir pada motherboard. Pada sebagian besar motherboard, indikasi adanya arus listrik yang mengalir ini ditandai dengan lampu LED yang menyala. Kalau lampu ini tidak menyala, bisa dipastikan tidak ada arus listrik yang mengalir.
Kedua, kemungkinan power suplay yang tidak terlalu bagus alias tidak memiliki tenaga yang sesuai. Cara satu-satunya adalah menganti power suplay yang Anda punya dengan yang lebih bagus.
Penyebab ketiga yang mungkin adalah tidak terpasangnya kartu grafis dengan benar. Ini memang biasa terjadi kalau Anda sembrono memasang kartu grafis add on. Untuk mengatasinya, Anda bisa memperbaiki posisi pemasangan. Usahakan agar posisinya tegak lurus terhadap motherboard.
Penyebab keempat yang sering tidak terbayang adalah rusaknya tombol power atau koneksinya yang menghubungkan front panel dengan tombol power pada casing depan. Ini menyebabkan Anda tidak dapat menyalakan sistem meski semua terpasang dengan benar.

Sistem tiba-tiba hang ketika di overclock
Ada beberapa penyebab untuk masalah ini. Penyebab pertama ada pada beberapa komponen yang membutuhkan frekuensi kerja yang lebih tinggi. Ini misalnya terjadi untuk AGP ataupun PCI yang terpasang. Untuk melakukan ini, Anda bisa masuk ke BIOS dan menaikkan frekuensi kerjanya. Ini pun dengan catatan apabila motherboard yang Anda pakai memang mendukung.
Penyebab kedua adalah kurangnya tegangan yang dipakai. Untuk itu, Anda juga bisa masuk ke menu BIOS dan melakukan penaikan tegangan, baik pada prosesor atau memori. Tapi cara ini riskan kaerena sangat tergantung pada kemampuan dan daya tahan motherboard, prosesor, memori, ataupun kartu grafis yang dipasang. Ini kareena kenaikan tegangan akan mempengaruhi kerja dari beberapa periferal yang terpasang.

Sistem tidak bekerja karena hardisk tidak terdeteksi
Masalah ini sering sekali muncul pada beberapa motherboard. Kesalahan sendiri terjadi bukan pada motherboard-nya, tetapi pada kabel data yang Anda gunakan. Kesalah ini biasanya muncul karena Anda menggunakan port secondary dan bukan port primary meskipun Anda tidak menggunakannya buat CD-ROM atau drive lain. Pada beberapa sistem, motherboard tidak akan mendeteksi lantaran penggunaan kabel data semacam ini. Solusi yang bisa dilakukan adalah menggunakan port utama pada kabel IDE untuk hardisk sementar secondary untuk CD-ROM drive atau yang lain.

Sistem tidak bekerja ketika kabel fan CPU tidak dipasang
Ini biasa terjadi pada beberapa motherboard yang memiliki tingkat keamanan yang cukup bak. Pada mother board yang demikian, sistem tidak akan mau bekerja kalau kabel fan tidak terpasang pada pin yang sesuai yaitu pun CPU fan. Ini dimaksudkan untuk menjamin agar fan bekerja untuk melindungi prosesor dari panas berlebihan. Nah, kalau Anda tidak memasang kabel fan pada pin power fan, atau bahkan tidak memasang pada salah satu pin, otomatis sistem tidak akan bekerja. Langkah satu-satunya yang diambil adalah memasang kabel fan CPU pada pin yang sesuai.

Ketika booting sistem nyatakan disk fail
Masalah ini muncul kalau Anda tidak memiliki floppy drive sementara pada BIOS fitur ini masih difungsikan. Cara satu-satunya adalah masuk ke menu BIOS dan matikan fitur yang satu ini.

Sistem tidak bekerja ketiga primary graphic adapter diganti
Ini biasa terjadi pada motherboard yang memiliki fitur VGA onboard. Ketika akan diganti dengan kartu grafis add on, baik yang berebasis PCI ataupun AGP. Ketika setting yang dipasang tidak sesuai dengan kondisi nyata, sistem tidak akan mampu melakukan booting. Satu-satunya langkah yang bisa diambil adalah dengan melakukan clear CMOS atau bahkan mencabut baterai CMOS kalau jumper untuk melakukan clear CMOS tidak ada. Ini untuk memaksa motherboard kembali pada posisi default. Setelah booting dapat dilakukan, masuk pada menu BIOS dan ubah setting primary graphic adapter sesuai dengan jenis kartu grafis yang dipasang. Apabila Anda memasang kartu grafis berbasis AGP, setting fitur ini pada AGP add on.

BIOS yang terkunci Password
Password BIOS biasanya digunakan user untuk melindungi setting BIOS pada komputer. Dan bila Anda ingin mereset password pada BIOS tidak terlalu susah untuk mengkoneksikan bateray CMOS nya, dengan sedikit trik pada Dos, Anda bisa mereset BIOS tersebut.
Pertama keluarlah dari Windows atau me-reboot komputer, jalankan komputer pada MS-DOS mode, gunakan pilihan “ Command prompt only”
Pada C:\> prompt, ketik :
DEBUG
Tekan enter. Anda akan melihat tanda ( - ) pada DEBUG prompt, kemudia ketik: o 70 2e
Pada DEBUG prompt akan ditampilkan seperti –o 70 2e. Tekan enter, ketik :
o 71 ff
Tekan enter, terakhir ketik :
Q
Tekan enter, makan Anda akan keluar dari DEBUG prompt dan kembali pada C:\> prompt
Sekarang reboot PC Anda, tekan tombol del, dan password untuk memasuki Setup BIOS pun sudah lenyap.

TROUBLESHOOTING KOMPUTER

TROUBLESHOOTING KOMPUTER
Komputer sudah merupakan alat bantu yang tergolong penting saat ini, kita ambil salah satu contoh pada kegiatan perkantoran, tentunya dengan adanya komputer maka pekerjaan dapat diselesaikan dengan lebih cepat. Sebagai pengguna atau pemakai komputer tentunya kita juga pernah mengalami masalah dengan komputer. Hal tersebut dapat diakibatkan adanya ketidaksesuaian dari komponen dasar komputer itu sendiri yang biasanya berkaitan dengan Software (perangkat lunak atau aplikasinya), Hardware (perangkat keras) atau Brainware (si pemakai komputer).

Pengertian Troubleshooting Komputer
Dalam dunia komputer, segala sesuatu masalah yang berhubungan dengan komputer disebut Troubleshooting dan timbulnya masalah dalam komputer tentu ada sebabnya. Pada kesempatan ini kita akan sedikit belajar untuk mendeteksi masalah pada komputer Anda terutama yang berhubungan dengan Hardware.
Untuk permasalahan dengan Software sebaiknya Anda lakukan pendeteksian sederhana dahulu seperti pemeriksaan file-file yang berhubungan dengan Software atau spesifikasi permintaan (requirement) dari Software. Apabila permasalahannya cukup rumit, sebaiknya Anda install ulang saja Software tersebut, karena akan terlalu rumit untuk memperbaiki sebuah Software, sedangkan untuk permasalahan dengan Brainware, penulis hanya dapat memberikan saran “istirahat dulu deh, he…”.

Teknik dalam Troubleshooting
Terdapat dua macam teknik dalam mendeteksi permasalahan dalam komputer, yaitu teknik Forward dan teknik Backward. Untuk lebih mengenal kedua teknik tersebut, ada baiknya kita bahas terlebih dahulu definisi dari masing-masing teknik tersebut.
1. Teknik Forward
Sesuai dengan namanya, maka dalam teknik ini segala macam permasalahan dideteksi semenjak awal komputer dirakit dan biasanya teknik ini hanya digunakan oleh orang-orang dealer komputer yang sering melakukan perakitan komputer. Pada teknik ini hanya dilakukan pendeteksian masalah secara sederhana dan dilakukan sebelum komputer dinyalakan (dialiri listrik). Untuk mempermudah silakan simak contoh berikut :
§ Setelah komputer selesai dirakit, maka dilakukan pemeriksaan pada semua Hardware yang telah terpasang, misalnya memeriksa hubungan dari kabel Power Supply ke soket power pada Motherboard.
§ Untuk casing ATX, kita periksa apakah kabel Power Switch sudah terpasang dengan benar.
§ dsb.

2. Teknik Backward
Hampir sama dengan teknik sebelumnya, teknik Backward adalah teknik untuk mendeteksi kesalahan pada komputer setelah komputer dinyalakan (dialiri listrik). Teknik lebih banyak digunakan karena pada umumnya permasalahan dalam komputer baru akan timbul setelah “jam terbang” komputernya sudah banyak dan ini sudah merupakan hal yang wajar. Dapat kita ambil beberapa contoh sebagai berikut :
§ Floppy Disk yang tidak dapat membaca disket dengan baik.
§ Komputer tidak mau menyala saat tombol power pada casing ditekan.
§ dsb.

Tabel Pendeteksian Masalah
Setelah penjelasan sederhana dari kedua teknik tersebut penulis akan membahas lebih dalam lagi ke teknik Backward, karena bagi pengguna komputer rumahan tentunya teknik ini lebih banyak akan digunakan ketimbang teknik Forward. Untuk lebih mempermudah dalam pendeteksian masalah pada komputer Anda, silakan simak tabel berikut :

No
Komponen
Pendeteksian Masalah
1
Power Supply
Analisa Pengukuran
2
Motherboard
3
Speaker
4
RAM
Analisa Suara
5
VGA Card + Monitor
6
Keyboard
Analisa Tampilan
7
Card I/O
8
Disk Drive
9
Disket

Analisa Pengukuran
Pada tahapan ini, pendeteksian masalah dengan cara mengukur tegangan listrik pada komponen nomor 1 sampai 3. Gunakan alat bantu seperti multitester untuk mengukur tegangan yang diterima atau diberikan komponen tersebut.
Contoh : Mengukur tegangan listrik yang diterima oleh Power Supply, lalu mengukur tegangan yang diberikan oleh Power Supply ke komponen lainnya.

Analisa Suara
Pada tahapan ini pendeteksian masalah menggunakan kode suara (beep) yang dimiliki oleh BIOS dan dapat kita dengar lewat PC Speaker. Pastikan kabel PC Speaker sudah terpasang dengan baik. Kemungkinan letak permasalahan ada di komponen nomor 4 dan 5. Untuk mempermudah pengenalan kode suara tersebut, silakan simak keterangan berikut :
§ Bunyi beep pendek satu kali, artinya sistem telah melakukan proses Boot dengan baik.
§ Bunyi beep pendek 2 kali, artinya ada masalah pada konfigurasi atau seting pada CMOS.
§ Bunyi beep panjang 1 kali dan pendek 1 kali, artinya ada masalah pada Motherboard atau DRAM.
§ Bunyi beep panjang 1 kali dan pendek 2 kali, artinya ada masalah pada monitor atau VGA Card.
§ Bunyi beep panjang 1 kali dan pendek 3 kali, artinya ada masalah pada Keyboard.
§ Bunyi beep panjang 1 kali dan pendek 9 kali, artinya ada masalah pada ROM BIOS.
§ Bunyi beep panjang terus-menerus, artinya ada masalah di DRAM.
§ Bunyi beep pendek terus-menerus, artinya ada masalah penerimaan tegangan (power).
§ Pada beberapa merk Motherboard akan mengeluarkan bunyi beep beberapa kali apabila temperatur processornya terlalu tinggi (panas).
Catatan : kode bunyi beep diatas berlaku pada AWARD BIOS, untuk jenis BIOS yang lain kemungkinan memiliki kode bunyi beep yang berbeda.

Analisa Tampilan
Pada tahapan ini pendeteksian masalah cenderung lebih mudah karena letak permasalahan dapat diketahui berdasarkan pesan error yang ditampilkan di monitor. Kemungkinan letak permasalahan ada di komponen nomor 6 sampai 9.
Contoh : Pada saat komputer dinyalakan tampil pesan Keyboard Error, maka dapat dipastikan letak permasalahan hanya pada Keyboard.

Cara Cepat Mengenali Troubleshooting
§ Apabila terjadi masalah dan sistem masih memberikan tampilan pesan pada monitor atau disertai dengan bunyi beep 1 atau 2 kali, maka kemungkinan letak permasalahan ada di komponen nomor 6 sampai 9, yaitu pada Keyboard, Card I/O, Disk Drive dan Disket.
§ Apabila terjadi masalah dan sistem memberikan kode bunyi beep lebih dari 2 kali, maka kemungkinan letak permasalahan ada di komponen nomor 4 dan 5, yaitu RAM, VGA Card dan Monitor.
§ Sedangkan untuk masalah yang tidak disertai pesan pada monitor atau kode bunyi beep, kemungkinan besar letak permasalahan ada di komponen nomor 1 dan 2, yaitu Power Suplly dan Motherboard.

Dengan kedua macam teknik dalam pendeteksian maslah dalam komputer tersebut, tentunya akan lebih memperkaya pengetahuan kita di bidang komputer, jadi jika suatu saat terdapat masalah pada komputer Anda kita dapat melakukan pemeriksaan terlebih dahulu sebelum membawa ke tempat servis, kalaupun harus membawa ke tempat servis kita sudah mengerti letak permasalahannya, jadi kita tidak dibohongi oleh tukang servis yang nakal ; )
Dengan pemahaman troubleshooting komputer yang lebih dalam tentunya akan lebih mempermudah kita untuk mengetahui letak permasalahan dalam komputer dan tentunya akan lebih menyenangkan apabila kita dapat memperbaiki sendiri permasalahan tersebut. Semoga pembahasan sederhana tentang troubleshooting ini dapat bermanfaat, selamat mencoba dan terima kasih.